What IS a ‘Healing Art’ anyway?

‘Healing’ can be defined as the ‘return to health’. And health, in the sense of healing arts, is very very broad – it is a euphemism for wholeness; for authenticity; for being connected to ALL aspect of yourself as a human; for our capacity to live the joy of our true selves moment to moment. THIS is health.

‘Art’ can be defined as a creative process, stemming from the imagination, or being guided from something beyond a step by step process.

A Healing Art is a system/framework of techniques that is applied in a creative intuitive way so as to bring about a new level of awareness; new connections; new understandings and perspectives; growth and transformation; a greater sense of wellbeing for the participant.

A by no means complete list of traditional healing arts is as follows:

hatha yoga;

tai chi;

qi gong;

other martial arts grounded in spiritual philosophy;

meditation of any kind (breath, sound);

massage (acupressure points);

chanting…

Ancient healing arts have been used for millennia as medicine, and as self-maintenance and personal evolution tools.

More modern healing arts include:

aikido;

japanese yoga;

shiatsu massage;

self-massage;

art therapy;

guided visualisation meditation;

wholefood knowledge and cooking;

emotional freedom techniques (tapping)…

The modern healing arts are typically built upon practices and philosophies that have survived the test of time when it comes to supporting humankind.